TSBE’s National Energy Summit
THE agricultural sector is among the myriad industries struggling to navigate the complexities of energy sustainability, with the literal cost of poor political planning hitting bottom lines.
The National Energy Summit, hosted by Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, had sought to clarify the confusion and develop a roadmap to what it called the energy trilemma – sustainability, reliability and affordability.
Addressing the summit in Toowoomba last week, a dairy farmer and irrigator told more than 150 industry, civic and political leaders his electricity bill had risen more than 350% in a decade.
The revelation has triggered calls from TSBE executive chairman Shane Charles for political leaders to step back from policy differences and allow the energy industry to “do what it does best – innovate, adapt and move forward”.
“What is disappointing is that we have the situation where the federal and state governments are so diametrically opposed on policy that there is no clear sense of what the correct position should be on energy,” Mr Charles said.
“We need government to stop playing politics, set some policy platforms and get out of the way so that the industry can do what it does best –
innovate, adapt and move forward.”
The full-day National Energy Summit set itself an ambitious target at a fundamental level – to remove the confusion about the sector in all its forms, from conventional generation with coal-fired power to coal seam gas and the emerging
renewables sectors, including solar and wind power.
Mr Charles said energy producers and industry experts including representatives from AGL Energy, Australia Pacific LNG, New Hope, Hatch and Yarranlea sent a message to the summit delegates: “Ongoing uncertainty is
leading to a lack of investment and confidence.”
“The National Energy Summit was an opportunity to look at what energy sources are currently available, what infrastructure is aging and what is now in the pipeline,” he said.
“It was clear that one source alone will not be the solution.
“The Darling Downs and Western Downs proved at the summit how strong the region is in terms of energy production across the energy mix. We are an exemplar to the rest of the country on what can be achieved through the work of councils and industry associations.”